Engineered Plank and Its Manufacturing Method
AssigneeWellmade Floor Covering Int'l Inc.
InventorsMing Chen, Zhu Chen
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Abstract
A plank is described and a method for manufacturing the plank. The plank can be produced by mixing polyvinyl chloride powder, coarse whiting and light calcium compound powder, stabilizer, polyethylene wax, internal lubricant, plasticizer, and impact modifier together, and stirring this mixture. The mixture is then extruded through an extruder compound to form a plastic composite base material. A surface layer is then tiled onto the plastic composite base material using thermal compression, without the use of intermediate adhesive materials. The surface layer can be embossed when it is combined with the mixture being extruded.
Claims21
An engineered plank comprising:
- a surface layer, and
- a plastic composite base material layer joined to surface layer without the use of intermediate adhesive materials with the surface layer forming a top surface of the plank and the plastic composite base material forming a bottom surface of the plank;
- and
- wherein the plank is configured such that at least one of the top and bottom surfaces has an unweighted maximum surface flatness deviation of no greater than 0.003 inches per inch of the at least one of the top and bottom surfaces after being subjected to a test A, wherein the test A comprises:
- (i) subjecting the plank to a first air environment at a 60 degrees F. for a first period of 24 hours;
- (ii) immediately upon the expiration of the first period, subjecting the plank to a second air environment at 200 degrees F. for a second period of 1 hour;
- (iii) immediately upon expiration of the second period, measuring the plank.
An engineered plank comprising:
- a surface layer, and
- a plastic composite base material layer joined to the surface layer without the use of intermediate adhesive materials;
- wherein the plank has a tensile strength as measured across the surface layer and plastic composite base layer of greater than 420 psi.
An engineered plank comprising:
- a surface layer, and
- a plastic composite base material layer joined to surface layer without the use of intermediate adhesive materials with the surface layer forming a top surface of the plank and the plastic composite base material forming a bottom surface of the plank;
- and
- wherein the plank is configured such that its length and width dimensional changes of the plank are no greater than 0.05% after being subjected to a test C, wherein the test C comprises:
- (i) subjecting the plank to a first air environment at a 60 degrees F. for a first period of 24 hours;
- (ii) immediately upon the expiration of the first period, subjecting the plank to a second air environment at 200 degrees F. for a second period of 1 hour;
- (iii) immediately upon expiration of the second period, measuring the plank.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.